The circus event of the night. Sentoryu joins a growing list of sumo players that have failed to do well in MMA. Giant Silva's submission by kimura was a bit like watching a beginners groundfighting class. I think Sentoryu would have been best served while in GS's guard to just continue to hammer away at GS's midsection. GS didn't look like he was enjoying those punches.

Sergei Kharitonov def. Murilo Rua - KO (Strikes) 4:14 rd 1

Probably the second biggest upset for some, but Sergei Kharitonov came out strong and hungry. His body punches seemed to quickly wear down Rua and his grappling skills allowed him to keep setting the pace and fighting his fight. Tonight was Kharitonov's coming out party.

Semmy Schilt def. Gan McGee - Submission (Arm Bar) 5:02 rd 1

Gan McGee had Chuck Liddell in his corner, but it wasn't enough to prevent Semmy Schilt from taking the fight. Gan showed some good grappling skills and landed some good strikes, but Semmy was able to bide his time and capitalize on an opening to get the arm bar.

Naoya Ogawa def. Stefan Leko - Submission (Choke) 1:34 rd 1

It's been a while since I've seen as pure a style vs. style match. As usual, the grappler was able to force the striker to fight his fight. Hopefully a wake-up to Leko that, if he wants to be competitive in MMA, he'd better work his grappling a bit more.

On one hand, probably the biggest upset of the night, but on the other, I wasn't totally surprised. Given the tools that Randleman has at his disposal NOBODY should count him out. Crocop was heavily hyped going in to this one, but Randleman was prepped by Mark Coleman and had Chuck Liddell (a very successful striker that can force grapplers to play his game - of course his NCAA div I wrestling experience doesn't hurt) in his corner.

Randleman immediately shoved Crocop into the corner and used his positioning and leverage to hold him there, forcing Crocop to use energy to try and pry him away. The ref moved them back to the center where Randleman tried a quick shot, to which Crocop showed a beautiful sprawl. Randleman kept his right hand tucked up by his head to ward of Crocop's vicious left leg. When Crocop turned his hip in to throw the left leg, Randleman unloaded with a heavy left hook that knocked Crocop to the ground, stunning him. Randleman followed up with a hard series of forearm smashes and knocked Crocop out. Randleman was pumped up, executed his game plan and caught the Croation Member of Parliament off-guard. I'm now thinking of PeeDee's pre-fight write-up and can't help but ruminate on the question that was posed then.

Yokoi proved to be tough, with some excellent throws, but was gassing hard towards the end of the first round. Nog showed why he is one of the very best by staying aggressive and looking for any sign of weakness. The choke he used in response to Yokoi's leg-shoot seemed to be some hybrid of the guillotine and syracuse. At any rate, it made for a highly effective finish.

Fedor Emelianenko def. Mark Coleman - Submission (Arm Bar) 2:11 rd 1

Coleman was pumped up and came out strong, taking down Fedor, taking his back and getting his hooks inside. Fedor also showed why he's one of the very best by taking some good shots from Coleman, defending the choke attempt and eventually reversing to catch Coleman with a very sweet armbar. Fedor just seems to keep getting better and better. His ability to ground and pound OR submit makes him a very dangerous opponent indeed.

If I were an oddsmaker, I'd look to Nog getting the opportunity to try to avenge his previous loss to Fedor in the finals of this competition. But, as the first round proved, there are some very talented people that are working very hard to see that they are the ones that walk away with the championship. That just means that ultimately the fans are going to be the real winners.

If Mark Hunt was the K1 fighter from New Zealand that Bas interviewed, he seemed rather non-chalant about the very idea of grappling. Either he's already a badarse at it, or he has no idea what he's in for . . .

Originally posted by Budd If Mark Hunt was the K1 fighter from New Zealand that Bas interviewed, he seemed rather non-chalant about the very idea of grappling. Either he's already a badarse at it, or he has no idea what he's in for . . .

I love watching him in K-1..love his attitude and style. I don't believe he has much if any ground experience, so sadly he may not know what he is in for. After watching Leko get destroyed on the ground he may be haveing second thoughts about Pride...

Based on the commentary last night (I think I'm remembering right, someone slap me if I'm not), Yokoi was undefeated with 10 wins going into his fight against Nog. All of his wins have come by either submission or decision. He's got a judo background, which was demonstrated, I thought, by effective use of throws. After the fight, Nog gave him props for being "A tough guy" and said that he (Nog) needed to get back into working his standup throws.